Occupation / job
Agricultural Equipment Operators
Median annual pay. Half earn less than this.
Hourly at a standard 2,080-hour year. We do not yet have unpaid-time or cost data for this, so this is not an adjusted figure.
The middle half. A quarter earn below this range.
Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 · view
What this figure cannot tell you
It covers people EMPLOYED in this occupation. Anyone who trained for it and was never hired is not in the median above, and neither is anyone doing the work self-employed. No verified count of qualified people exists for this occupation, so this page shows none rather than an estimate. Why that matters · The occupations where we could source it
Who this suits
The $41,730 midpoint for Agricultural Equipment Operators sits $8,290 under the $50,020 the typical American job pays. That is a real living across much of the country and a thin one in expensive metros, so geography decides this more than seniority does.
At 28,500 employed, this is a mid-sized occupation. In a normal city that means several possible employers and a genuine market rate, which is the point at which knowing the numbers on this page starts to be worth money.
Agricultural work suits people who accept weather, season and commodity prices as the terms of employment rather than as bad luck.
We carry no verified training length for Agricultural Equipment Operators — BLS reports pay, not preparation, and we will not estimate it.
Who should not do this
A quarter of Agricultural Equipment Operators earn under $36,810 and a quarter over $48,100: 1.3x, and $11,290 between the ends. That is a narrow band — enough room to be paid better than average, not enough for the occupation to be a route to a materially different income.
The 25th percentile is $36,810 — $17.69 an hour, and $13,210 below the $50,020 typical American job. Entry-level in this field means that number, not the midpoint, so budget against it.
Avoid it if seasonal income and weather-dependent work would destabilise your household budget.
You will not find a "what share make it" figure here. 28,500 is a headcount of the employed, which is a numerator without a denominator — everyone who qualified and never got hired is missing from it, and we will not estimate them to complete a percentage.
What the spread tells you
A 1.3x ratio from $36,810 to $48,100 makes $41,730 a dependable planning number. Dependable is the whole offer here — there is not much room above it.
Put in money rather than ratios: $36,810 at the 25th percentile, $41,730 at the midpoint, $48,100 at the 75th. $11,290 separates the quarter of Agricultural Equipment Operators at the bottom from the quarter at the top.
Between $36,810 and $48,100 — the two ends of the middle half — sits $41,730. Moving from the midpoint to the upper quarter is worth $6,370; the whole climb from the lower quarter is $11,290.
The climb from $41,730 to $48,100 is $6,370; the drop to $36,810 is $4,920. A little more room above the midpoint than below it is the normal shape for Agricultural Equipment Operators and for most paid work, and it is the reason the median is the honest summary rather than the average.
Per hour at a standard full-time year that is $20.06 at the midpoint for Agricultural Equipment Operators, $17.69 at the 25th percentile and $23.12 at the 75th, against $24.04 for the typical American job.
What these figures are, and what they are not
The $41,730 figure is what employers pay employees. It is before tax and before deductions, it excludes the self-employed entirely, and it says nothing about anyone who does this work on their own account.
With no unpaid-hours or cost data for Agricultural Equipment Operators, the hourly figure is $41,730 over a 2,080-hour year — a unit conversion, not an adjustment.
How this is calculated · Self-employment failure rates · What credentials cost and pay back · Look up something else